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The churchyard at St Mary Magdalan's in Mortlake south east London
is home to serveral prominant figures from the past, one of which has a very unique monument.
John Francis Bentley (1832-1902), the architect
of Westminster Cathedral.
Wilfred Stokes (1860-1927), the inventor of
the Stokes mortar used in the First World War.
Scott Naysmith, the first Catholic Inspector
of Schools.
The Prince of Paris, pretender To the French throne along with his mother.
Sir James Marshall (1829-1889), was Chief Magistrate of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and
is credited with having invited two French priests from the Society for African Missions to come to the Gold Coast to found
what was to become the Catholic Church in present-day Ghana.
Sir Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (March 19, 1821 –
October 20, 1890) was an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist,
fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge
of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages.
Burton's best-known achievements include traveling in disguise to
Mecca, making an unexpurgated translation of The Book of One Thousand Nights and A Night (the collection is more commonly
called The Arabian Nights in English because of Andrew Lang's abridgment) and the Kama Sutra and journeying with John Hanning
Speke as the first white men guided by the redoubtable Sidi Mubarak Bombay to discover the Great Lakes of Africa in search
of the source of the Nile. He was a prolific author and wrote numerous books and scholarly articles about subjects including
travel, fencing and ethnography.
He was a captain in the army of the East India Company serving in
India (and later, briefly, in the Crimean War). Following this he was engaged by the Royal Geographical Society to explore
the east coast of Africa and led an expedition guided by the locals which discovered Lake Tanganyika. In later life he served
as British consul in Fernando Po, Damascus and, finally, Trieste. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was
awarded a knighthood (KCMG) in 1886.
According to the Mausolea & Monuments Trust: "Burton had
always hated the dark and once told his wife that, rather than being cremated he "would like to lie in an Arab tent" (Blanch,
126). So the mausoleum she designed for him, though built in stone, is shaped like a Bedouin tent. The 9 pointed star on the
roof used to be clearly visible but now much of its gilding has worn away. There is a crucifix over the entrance (now blocked),
an inscription to both Sir Richard and Lady Isabel on the door panel and, below that, a commemorative sonnet by Justin Huntly
McCarthy, beginning, "Oh last and noblest of the Errant Knights…"
The interior is visible through a clear glass
window in the rear wall, which is reached by a ladder. This window replaces a stained glass window with the Burton monogram.
Camel bells hang from the ceiling and there are Arabic lamps on the floor near the foot of Sir Richard's ornate, tapering,
gilded coffin and Lady Isabel's more conventional mahogany coffin. The walls are decorated with bands of cherubim and seraphim,
painted on a thin layer of stucco that is peeling from the wall.
The mausoleum was partially restored in 1975 after
a long period of neglect. Further restoration is being organised by the Burton Tomb Restoration Fund".
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